Volume I Part 31 (2/2)

11. Should his wife prove with child and bear a son or sons they shall have his whole property not disposed of. If a daughter, she shall have the same as Fiordelisa.

12. If he have no male heir his Brother Marco shall have the Testator's share of his Father's bequest, and 2000 _lire_ besides.

Cousin Nicolo shall have 500 _lire_, and Uncle Maffeo 500.

13. Should Daughter Fiordelisa die unmarried her 2000 _lire_ and interest to go to his male heir, and failing such to Brother Marco and his male heir. But in that case Marco shall pay 500 _lire_ to Cousin Nicolo or his male heir.

14. Should his wife bear him a male heir or heirs, but these should die under age, the whole of his undisposed property shall go to Brother Marco or his male heir. But in that case 500 _lire_ shall be paid to Cousin Nicolo.

15. Should his wife bear a daughter and she die unmarried, her 2000 _lire_ and interest shall go to Brother Marco, with the same stipulation in behalf of Cousin Nicolo.

16. Should the whole amount of his property between cash and goods not amount to 10,000 _lire_ (though he believes he has fully as much), his bequests are to be ratably diminished, except those to his own children which he does not wish diminished. Should any legatee die before receiving the bequest, its amount shall fall to the Testator's heir male, and failing such, the half to go to Marco or his male heir, and the other half to be distributed for the good of the souls aforesaid.

The witnesses are Lionardo priest of S. Felice, Lionardo clerk of the same, and the Notary Pietro Pagano priest of the same.

[2] According to Romanin (I. 321) the _lira dei grossi_ was also called _Lira d'imprestidi_, and if the _lire_ here are to be so taken, the sum will be 10,000 ducats, the largest amount by far that occurs in any of these Polo doc.u.ments, unless, indeed, the 1000 _lire_ in -- 5 of Maffeo Junior's Will be the like; but I have some doubt if such lire are intended in either case.

[3] ”(Resolved) That grace be granted to the respectable MARCO PAULO, relieving him of the penalty he has incurred for neglecting to have his water-pipe examined, seeing that he was ignorant of the order on that subject.” (See _Appendix C_. No. 3.) The other reference, to M.

Polo, of S. Geremia, runs as follows:--

[_MCCCII. indic. XV. die VIII. Macii q fiat gra Guillo aurifici q ipe absolvat a pena i qua dicit icurisse p uno spotono sibi iueto veuiedo de Mestre ppe domu Maci Pauli de Canareglo ui descenderat ad bibendu._]

”That grace be granted to William the Goldsmith, relieving him of the penalty which he is stated to have incurred on account of a spontoon (_spontono_, a loaded bludgeon) found upon him near the house of MARCO PAULO of Cannareggio, where he had landed to drink on his way from Mestre.” (See _Cicogna_, V. p. 606.)

[4] _Sansovino, Venezia, Citta n.o.bilissima e Singolare, Descritta_, etc., Ven. 1581, f. 236 v.; _Barbaro, Alberi; Coronelli, Allante Veneto_, I. 19.

[5] The word _Millio_ occurs several times in the Chronicle of the Doge Andrea Dandolo, who wrote about 1342; and _Milion_ occurs at least once (besides the application of the term to Polo) in the History of Giovanni Villani; viz. when he speaks of the Treasury of Avignon:-- ”_diciotto_ milioni _di fiorini d'oro_ ec. _che ogni_ milione _e mille migliaja di fiorini d' oro la valuta_.” (xi. 20, -- 1; _Ducange_, and _Vocab. Univ. Ital._). But the definition, thought necessary by Villani, in itself points to the use of the word as rare. _Domilion_ occurs in the estimated value of houses at Venice in 1367, recorded in the _Cronaca Magna_ in St. Mark's Library. (_Romanin_, III. 385).

[6] ”Also; that Pardon be granted to Bonocio of Mestre for that 152 _lire_ in which he stood condemned by the Captains of the Posts, on account of wine smuggled by him, in such wise: to wit, that he was to pay the said fine in 4 years by annual instalments of one fourth, to be retrenched from the pay due to him on his journey in the suite of our amba.s.sadors, with a.s.surance that anything then remaining deficient of his instalments should be made good by himself or his securities. And his securities are the n.o.bles Pietro Morosini and MARCO PAULO MILION.” Under _Milion_ is written in an ancient hand ”_mortuus_.”

(See _Appendix C_, No. 4.)

[7] Humboldt tells this (_Examen_, II. 221), alleging _Jacopo d'Acqui_ as authority; and Libri (_H. des Sciences Mathematiques_, II. 149), quoting _Doglioni, Historia Veneziana_. But neither authority bears out the citations. The story seems really to come from Amoretti's commentary on the _Voyage du Cap. L. F. Maldonado_, Plaisance, 1812, p. 67. Amoretti quotes as authority _Pignoria, Degli Dei Antichi_.

An odd revival of this old libel was mentioned to me recently by Mr.

George Moffatt. When he was at school it was common among the boys to express incredulity by the phrase: ”Oh, what a Marco Polo!”

[8] Thibault, according to Ducange, was in 1307 named Grand Master of the Arblasteers of France; and Buchon says his portrait is at Versailles among the Admirals (No. 1170). Ramon de Muntaner fell in with the Seigneur de Cepoy in Greece, and speaks of him as ”but a Captain of the Wind, as his Master was King of the Wind.” (See _Ducange, H. de l'Empire de Const. sous les Emp. Francois_, Venice ed. 1729, pp. 109, 110; _Buchon, Chroniques Etrangeres_, pp. lv. 467-470.)

[9] The note is not found in the Bodleian MS., which is the third known one of this precise type.

[10] Messire Jean, the son of Thibault, is mentioned in the accounts of the latter in the _Chambre des Comptes_ at Paris, as having been with his Father in Romania. And in 1344 he commanded a confederate Christian armament sent to check the rising power of the Turks, and beat a great Turkish fleet in the Greek seas. (_Heyd._ I. 377; _Buchon_, 468.)

[11] The doc.u.ment is given in _Appendix C_, No. 5. It was found by Comm.

Barozzi, the Director of the Museo Civico, when he had most kindly accompanied me to aid in the search for certain other doc.u.ments in the archives of the _Casa di Ricovero_, or Poor House of Venice. These archives contain a great ma.s.s of testamentary and other doc.u.ments, which probably have come into that singular depository in connection with bequests to public charities.

The doc.u.ment next mentioned was found in as strange a site, viz., the _Casa degli Esposti_ or Foundling Hospital, which possesses similar muniments. This also I owe to Comm. Barozzi, who had noted it some years before, when commencing an arrangement of the archives of the Inst.i.tution.

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